Hey everybody, I'm working with my dad on his Durango and we are looking for the heater core supply hose, but we are unable to find it. The original one still in place looks to be of a split design, and should be the one in the picture I have attached. Does anyone know what it is and whether or not it can be safely omitted from a replacement hose? If not, can someone point me to the part that joins the 2 sections of hose? Thanks!

Heater core supply hose

 

The joint there is just a straight piece of pipe, for the most part. I really don't know what Dodge's reasoning for that was, and leaving it out won't make any difference at all.

That said, can you re-use that part? The heater hoses probably comes as two separate pieces...... if you can even find them anymore...... might just use the appropriate caliber hose, and call it a day.

 

I've contacted 2 different Dodge dealerships, and neither of them could give me a straight answer on what it was for, and the part itself has been discontinued, but one dealership said they could get one but it would be ~$200. One aftermarket parts store told me it is a restrictor, and while attempting to flush the heater core it seemed that the water backed up rather quickly so that seemed to make sense, although I'm not sure why such a device would be there in the first place. The part itself doesn't appear to be defective - we are just in the process of replacing the water pump and radiator hoses, thermostat etc, so we were thinking while we were in there already that we would be proactive and just go ahead and replace the heater hoses as well. The heater hoses appear to be pre-formed so I guess I'm a little hesitant about just cutting a hose to fit that has no pre-form to it.